Recently I reacquainted myself with an old friend I'd never actually met.
To be accurate, I began rereading the works of an author I'd loved in the 1980's, then stopped reading during the Bad Years when my marriage was breaking up, my family was dying, and it was struggle to make enough money to buy food, let alone books. I hadn't thought of the author, or the books, in a very long time, and had actually donated a couple of paperbacks that had originally been purchased by my ex because I couldn't stand the thought of touching them. I always kept a copy of my favorite, though, and bought e-versions of two more that I'd enjoyed.
The author in question was named John M. Ford. He had a brief splash of fame, won a few awards, and then shifted his attention primarily to game writing until his premature death about fifteen years ago. All but two of his books quietly went out of print, and unless you came of age during the Reagan Administration, I seriously doubt that most of you reading this diary have ever heard of him.
I am about to change that.
Rather, a group of determined fans and editors are about to change that, for thanks to their efforts, an article in Slate, and someone at Tor Books who finally asked the right questions, John M. Ford, the best fantasy/SF/game writer/master of ceremonies/polymath you never heard of, is finally back in print.
John M. Ford was part of a gifted group of SF/fantasy writers that came along in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s and included luminaries like Diane Duane, Charles de Lint, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Guy Gavriel Kay. An immensely talented poet and even better novelist/short story writer, Ford began writing for Asimov’s before he was out of college, and by 1980 he’d published several beautifully crafted short stories, a slew of game reviews, and proto-cyberpunk novel Web of Angels. Soon came his best-known work, The Dragon Waiting, and the next two decades saw a steady stream of finely written poems, novels, gaming supplements, and contributions to the Liavek shared-world series.
Not all was writing — like so many authors, Ford had to take day jobs as an editor, computer consultant, and even hospital orderly to pay the bills — but by the time Ford died unexpectedly in the mid-000’s he’d won several major awards, become a fannish celebrity thanks to his long-running “Ask Dr. Mike” routine, and acquired a reputation as “writer’s writer” who had never achieved great success despite immense talent. His place in science fiction and fantasy seemed assured, and most fans thought it was only a matter of time until a small press began reissuing his works.
Except that this didn’t happen.
Just why is still in dispute. The late Tor editor David Hartwell claimed that Ford, who died intestate, had been estranged from his SF-hating family who thought science fiction and fantasy were immoral and refused to let the books be reprinted on religious grounds. Ford’s life partner claimed that he’d planned to revise his will to cut his family out and appoint her as his executrix, but since the version he left was never witnessed it wasn’t legally binding, plus they had never actually married beyond a self-penned Klingon ceremony. No one knew how to contact his heirs, and if Hartwell was to be believed, Ford’s family hadn’t approved of his work, his personal relationships, or pretty much anything he’d done as an adult, so why even bother?
It wasn’t until 2018, when Slate’s Isaac Butler began digging into the story, that the truth came out. Ford’s family, far from disapproving of his work, had repeatedly written to his agent inquiring about republication. They had not known that his life partner was more than a friend, nor that the agent, overwhelmed by personal problems and grief-stricken by Ford’s death, had basically withdrawn from the industry completely. They were not happy with the rumors that had circulated about them deliberately withholding Ford’s works from publication, and it took nearly a year of negotiations by Tor Books’ editor Beth Meacham for them to change their mind.
That is why I’ve been rereading John M. Ford at long last. The Dragon Waiting just came back into print this week, the rest of his published works will follow, and at least two volumes of uncollected poems, essays, ephemera, and a final novel will be published over the next few years. The novel in particular sounds like a real find — it’s called Aspects, and it’s due to come out next year with an introduction by no less than Neil Gaiman — and it seemed like the perfect time to see if Ford’s work lived up to my memories.
It does.
Oh my goodness, it does.
Tonight I bring you not Bad Books, but the first three in what will be a major read of the works of John M. Ford. Two are the only major works of his that remained in print during the long hiatus, and that solely because they were work for hire — but they are far, far removed from the usual media tie-in. The third, a true masterpiece that’s become an underground classic, is one of the finest alternate histories ever written:
The Final Reflection — Star Trek is of course one of the most famous and popular media franchises ever developed. The original television series has led to nine spin-offs (seven live action and two animated series) and fifteen motion pictures, spawned literally hundreds of toys, props, items of clothing, and similar promotional merchandise, and launched or boosted the careers of nearly a hundred actors. Its vision of the future has influenced modern technology (flip phones), its optimistic outlook has encouraged millions to believe that humanity will somehow make it to the stars, and its staunchly liberal politics has commented on everything from the Vietnam War to abortion rights to race relations. Star Wars may have made more money, but Star Trek has literally changed the world.
It's also inspired a truly stunning amount of literature. Yes, a lot of this is fanfiction – the earliest fanzine, Spockanalia, dates from the original run in the 1960's – but there have been literally hundreds of tie-in novels, short stories, and comic books. Some have been decent, others mediocre, and several outright bad, but a handful are good enough that they can easily stand on their own.
The Final Reflection is one of them.
I have no idea why John M. Ford, who'd just won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, decided to write a Star Trek tie-in, but read this and you'll be eternally glad he did. A coming of age story about a young orphan, Vrenn (later Krenn), who rises through the ranks of Klingon society to avenge the ruin of his birth family and the house that adopted him, The Final Reflection is a sophisticated, elegantly written, and flawlessly plotted exploration of a world that is both utterly alien and utterly familiar. His version of Klingons – warriors, intellectuals, devotees of the tactical game klin zha, technologically well ahead of the Federation – is what Star Trek's greatest adversary should have been, and is still so influential that the studios incorporated elements into later video games and other Next Generation spin-offs. The fate of Krenn's adopted family is all but unbearable, the last plot twist will leave you gasping, and a cameo by a very young Spock (and even younger McCoy) is a charming and unexpected interlude.
This is a book that so transcends its origins it’s easy to forget that it began as a media tie-in. Read it even if you don’t like Star Trek. You’ll be glad you did.
How Much For Just the Planet? — Think that Star Trek is too serious? That science fiction in general needs to lighten up? Did you nearly fall over laughing at the first chapter of John Scalzi's The Android's Dream? Enjoy Henry Kuttner's stories about Gallagher and the vain robot, or Spider Robinson's stories about Callahan's Cross-time Saloon?
Are you in for a treat!
For it seems that instead of writing a sequel to The Final Reflection, or even another serious Star Trek novel, Ford decided to go in a completely different direction. Oh, there are echoes of the earlier book – the Klingons are recognizably from the same culture that produced Krenn and klin zha – but of noble Federation captains, bold explorers, and phaser battles there is nary a trace. Instead you get the following glorious mishmash, in no particular order (at least until the very end, when everything suddenly makes glorious sense):
- Food replicators that turn Captain Kirk's orange juice bright blue.
- A sloppy Vulcan who once dated Mr. Spock.
- An exploratory vessel named after a Wild West con man.
- Star-crossed lovers who bear a suspicious resemblance to Trek writer Diane Duane and her husband, Peter Morwood.
- A pair of adventure-crazed twelve year olds who model themselves after pulp heroes.
- Captain Kirk meeting yet another of his old flames, who is more than his match.
- Sarcastic Klingons.
- A damaged starship computer that keeps pumping out peppermint – excuse me, n'gaan – flavored milkshakes.
- An entire planetary population that seems to have wandered in from an amateur Gilbert & Sullivan production, and gets the gallant crew of the Enterprise into soooo much trouble.
- An educational filmstrip about “dilithium, the wonder mineral” sponsored by a mining company.
- Ensign Chekov and a young Klingon officer having a meltdown and deciding to stage a revolution.
- A placecard that reads “James Caligula Kirk,” and no, it doesn't mean what you think, get your minds out of the gutter you silly, silly people.
- A final “battle” that somehow got past the suits and managed to end any chance John M. Ford ever had to write a third Star Trek tie-in.
If this sounds remarkably like one of those French farces where characters run around slamming doors and popping in and out of each other's rooms, give yourself a gold star. And do yourself a favor and beg, borrow, or steal a copy of How Much for Just the Planet? If there is ever the time for a massively silly, laugh-out-loud funny book, this is it, and this is most definitely the book.
The Dragon Waiting: A Masque of History — I've read a lot of alternate histories, some good, most quite ordinary, but The Dragon Waiting is one of the very best. It was the single best selling book of Ford's entire career, won the World Fantasy Award, and seemed set to launch him to the very first rank of fantasy writers...except that instead of a sequel, or a spin-off, or anything remotely similar, his next two books were the Star Trek tie-ins I've already recommended, followed by a thriller/puzzle about CIA analysts and a lost Christopher Marlowe play. Just why he did this isn't clear, but as one observer put it, if he'd written even one or two books in the same universe, Ford would have been George R.R. Martin twenty years earlier, without the subtle but unmistakable misogyny that's tainted so much of Railroad's work since he stopped collaborating with Lisa Tuttle.
Or, to paraphrase the introduction to the brand new edition, The Dragon Waiting is the Velvet Underground of fantasy fiction: hard to find, all but forgotten by general readers, but both indispensable and hugely influential on virtually everything that came after.
Read it and you'll see why. At first glance The Dragon Waiting is an alternate history with a wonderfully tricky conceit: that Julian the Apostate lived long enough to de-establish Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, the old pagan cults were restored, and Europe never had to endure the so-called Dark Ages. Throw in the Wars of the Roses, magic, vampirism as a manageable disease instead of an evil curse, Italian city-states tearing each other to shreds while the Byzantine Empire plots to reclaim them, and the single best explanation of what happened to Richard III's nephews in all of fiction, and the plot alone is worth the read.
It's the characters that truly make the book, though, and oh what characters they are! Dottorina Cynthia Ricci, the Florentine doctor who desperately tries to save her beloved city...Demetrios Ducas, true heir to the Byzantine throne, and his beloved friend Richard of Gloucester...Earl Rivers, the greatest knight of England...Hywel Peredur, Welsh wizard plotting to stop the Empire from absorbing his homeland...what they do, and why, and what ultimate victory costs them as individuals and as allies, will break your heart and give you hope. I had to stop reading for a couple of hours after Cynthia's desperate escape from Italy, and I doubt I'm the only reader who had to.
Even if you don't like fantasy, or alternate history, or the Middle Ages, you need to read The Dragon Waiting, if for no other reason than to see how accurate the subtitle is. It is a true masterpiece, and I couldn't be happier that it's finally back in print.
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Have you ever heard of John M. Ford? Read any of his books? Played one of his games? Wondered just what became of Richard III's nephews? What Captain Kirk would look like in the middle of an operetta? What Dr. McCoy looked like as an infant? Heard vague rumors of a stunningly good writer who never quite achieved the success he deserved? It's Saturday night and we're all waiting for word from Walter Reed, so take the edge off and share....
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